NG 24

New game 24 is up.  Enjoy!  Also the longer results for new game 23.

Whew, a tough set today, particularly the numbers.

Round 1: P G A E F K O I N

I had GAPE / PAGE, FAKING, and PEAKING.

PEAKING seems to be the only seven; the other sixes are POKING and PIGEON / EPIGON (variant spelling of EPIGONE: "an inferior imitator or follower of an important writer, painter, etc.").


Round 2: R R R N O E I T W

I think I would have been highly likely to chance a vowel at the end, hoping for an I for INTERIOR.  It would not have been, though.  I had ERROR, WINTER, TERROR, and WORRIER.

Some sources suggest that INTERROW is a word, but the Macquarie does not have it.  That leaves WORRIER as the best, and the only seven.


Round 3: Target 757 from 25 100 75 4 9 5

An offset of 7 seems tough with those numbers.  I ended up with a one-away 756 = 4*(100 + 75 + 9 + 5), and spent what time remained unsuccessfully trying to make the target as 775 - 18.  (The rough approach was 9*(75 - 2) + 100, but there was no chance to make the 2.)

It turns out that the target is unreachable, and one away is the best that can be done.  There are many ways to 756 but only one to 758, which would thus have been a much more interesting target: 758 = (4 + 75/25)*(100 + 9) - 5.  This method was found by Jan, who must have been wishing the target was 758 after all.  Well done, Jan!


Round 4: T M N L A E E D S

I had MALT, MENTAL / LAMENT, and LAMENTED.  I could not better it after time, although I noted that if the last vowel were an I instead then DISMANTLE would have been there.

The other eight is LEADSMEN (plural of LEADSMAN: "Nautical a man who heaves the lead in taking soundings").  There are a good many sevens to be had.


Round 5: A I O B P U G I C

After the first four letters I wrote down BIO- as a fragment, and the last consonant made BIOPIC a possibility.  That was my only word for some time, although before time expired I managed to find PUBIC as a five.

BIOPIC looks like the only six, and the only other fives are COBIA (a fish) and GUACO (a plant).


Round 6: Target 956 from 4 10 7 9 4 6

A rather high target for six smalls, but they are a good selection and I like the chances.  (A very good spread, in fact; I think the only change I'd make would be to replace one of the 4's with a 3.)  I got distracted by 900 + 56, which was not helpful as the shared factors are limited.  With time running out I redirected to end up two away with 954 = (6*4*4 + 10)*9.

In the calmness of after-time, I finally did what I should have done initially and considered making the target as 960 - 4.  That led quickly to the solution 956 = (9 + 7)*6*10 - 4.  There are some other solutions, as it turns out, but that is easily the simplest.


Round 7: A O U F R R C H M

I would definitely have gone vowel-hunting on the last letter here, with an E allowing FAROUCHE.  As it was I had FOUR, ROACH, MARCH, wondered about FAROUCH as a possible variant spelling, and CHURRO.  I correctly rejected FAROUCH, but was surprised to find that CHURRO was not listed.  This time MasterChef has steered me wrong. *chuckles*

A shame to end up with an invalid word in what was proving to be a reasonable game so far.  There were some sixes, though: ARMOUR, CHROMA, and CARROM (variant spelling of CAROM).


Round 8: Target 626 from 25 50 100 75 7 8

Four large could prove a challenge, but the target is only one away from an important number for those, and the two smalls can provide the offset: 626 = 25*(75 - 50) + 8 - 7.  I know Sam will be disappointed.

Still within time I decided to emulate Sam and found the alternative solution 626 = 8*75 + (7*100 - 50)/25.


Round 9: THE BORDER

Like many others here, I gather, I saw BOTHERED in the letters.  There was an R left over, and the obvious adjustment was to BROTHERED.  It was not something I was familiar with, but it was also too plausible to turn down and so I buzzed in with it at the 2.1s mark.

The Macquarie does list BROTHER as a verb, buried among the other definitions.  Sense 10 is "to treat or address as a brother".  I'm not at all surprised if this is missing from the online version, as it seems of unlikely use.


I'll note as a point of comparison that there is no verb sense of 'sister'.  Both 'mother' and 'father' can be used as verbs but with different meanings again, and 'grandfather' also works as a verb with yet another meaning.